Captains Leland, Blanchette, Carbone Named First Team All-America East

Katie Leland

BALTIMORE, Md. - Seven members of the 2006 University of New Hampshire women's lacrosse team have been honored with placement on one of the America East All-Conference Teams, announced Thursday night at the conference's annual awards banquet.

Three Wildcats were voted First Team All-Conference by the conference coaches, led by senior attacker Katie Leland (Timonium, Md.). Named First Team All-Conference for the third consecutive season, Leland became UNH's all-time points leader on April 5 at Vermont, finishing the regular season with 262 career points. This season she leads the Wildcats with 47 goals, 27 assists, and 74 points, totals which rank her second in points and goals and fourth in assists in America East.

Joining Leland on the All-Conference First Team is fellow senior Kristin Blanchette (Sudbury, Mass.). The midfielder notched her 100th career goal on April 15 against Binghamton and comes into the America East Tournament with 32 goals and 16 assists for 48 points. Blanchette, carrying a ten-game scoring streak into the weekend, is the only Wildcat to record double digits in goals, assists, ground balls (39), draw controls (31), and caused turnovers (11).

Junior tri-captain Christine Carbone (Nashua, N.H.) is the third Wildcat named First Team All-Conference. Earning this honor for the second consecutive season, Carbone ranks first on the team with 51 ground balls and 23 caused turnovers. She is third in the conference and 16th in the nation in ground balls per game (3.40) as well as second in America East in caused turnovers per game (1.53).

Among the three UNH student-athletes named Second Team All-Conference is sophomore attacker Moira Talbot (Marblehead, Mass.). Talbot, named to the America East All-Rookie Team last season, is tied for fourth on the squad in goals with 30 and third in assists with 13 for a career-high 43 points. She notched single-game career highs with five goals against Brown on March 29, three assists in successive games against UMBC, Harvard, and Binghamton, and six points against both Brown and Harvard.

Sophomore defender Bailley Mazur (Longmeadow, Mass.) started all 16 matches for the Wildcats this season, placing fourth on the team in ground balls (31) and fifth in draw controls (17). Mazur earned a career-high four ground balls in America East matches against Albany and Binghamton and also caused eight turnovers for the Wildcats this season.

Freshman attacker Sarah Von Bargen (East Setauket, N.Y.) used a record-setting season to make an immediate impact in the UNH offense. She opened the year with a goal in nine consecutive games, the longest such streak to start a Wildcat career, en route to breaking the program's rookie season benchmarks in both goals (31) and points (45). Von Bargen, a three-time America East Rookie of the Week selection, ranks second on the squad in goals, third in points, first in draw controls (32), and tied for second in caused turnovers (17).

Besides Second Team All-Conference, Von Bargen was also voted onto the America East All-Rookie Team, as was midfielder Ashley Durepo (Concord, N.H.). Durepo finished the regular season with 19 goals and 23 points, second among Wildcat freshmen in both categories. She ranks third overall in ground balls (38) and fourth in draw controls (23) and is also among the leaders in caused turnovers with 11.

UNH, which finished the regular season tied for third in America East with a 4-2 conference mark, tied America East co-champions UMBC and Boston University with seven honorees each. Jenny Hauser of Boston University was voted Player of the Year, while UMBC's Courtney Martinez Connor earned Coach of the Year honors and Kaitlin Leggio of Stony Brook was named Rookie of the Year.

New Hampshire (10-6 overall), the fourth seed in the America East Women's Lacrosse Championship, faces top seed and host school UMBC Friday, May 5, at 11 a.m. at the UMBC Stadium Complex. If the Wildcats are victorious, they will face the winner of the Boston University/Stony Brook semifinal match on Sunday, May 7, at 3:30 p.m.